Osceola

Osceola, who lived from 1804 to 30 January 1838, born Billy Powell, was an influential leader of the Seminole people in Florida, raised by his Muscogee mother in the Creek tradition after his family migrated to Florida following the Red Sticks' defeat in the Creek War of 1814. In 1836 he led a small group of Seminole warriors during the Second Seminole War, when the United States tried to remove the tribe from Florida to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River, and he became an adviser to Micanopy, the Seminole's principal chief from 1825 to 1849. Osceola led the Seminole resistance to removal until 21 October 1837, when he was captured by deception under a flag of truce during peace talks near Fort Peyton. The United States imprisoned him first at Fort Marion in St Augustine and then at Fort Moultrie in Charleston, South Carolina, where he died a few months later of causes reported as an internal infection or malaria; while imprisoned his renown drew visitors including the artist George Catlin, who painted what remains the best known portrait of the Seminole leader.